By: MURRAY WENZEL

After a long injury lay-off, Indigenous rugby star Maurice Longbottom is playing in Paris for his grandfather, who died a week before the Olympics.

The Australian rugby sevens star, back after a long lay-off due to calf issues, sprinted ahead of his teammates, looked to the sky, then headed for the Olympic rings on halfway.

He leapt into the air then brushed the turf, his entrance purposeful and proud.

The side, who opened proceedings two days before the Paris opening ceremony, then won both their games to book an early spot in Thursday night’s quarter-finals.

“I recently lost my grandad so just running out, I was having a chat up above and getting my game on and letting him know I’m here,” Longbottom explained to AAP.

Maurice Longbottom headed to the Olympic rings before the start of a match in the Stade de France. (EPA)

“(He died) last week, so it’s been a tough couple of weeks for myself.

“The results help; I know it’s where he’d want to be right now.

“He was a big role model in my life, that’s for sure.”

Wednesday’s wins – 21-14 over Samoa and 21-7 against Kenya – put them 2-0 alongside Thursday’s pool rivals Argentina and guaranteed a quarter-final later that night.

A calf injury that “kept popping up” meant Longbottom barely played in this year’s world series, then he missed a crucial practice game last week to leave him well short of game time.

“The medical staff were confident to get him there, but you would have seen he was a bit rusty, still,” coach John Manenti said.

“But he’s got through (the day). In a way his injury was a good thing, because we learnt to survive without him, but there were days we missed him.”

Maurice Longbottom looks to pass the ball during Australia’s Pool B match with Samoa in Paris. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP)

Longbottom was part of the side beaten in Tokyo’s quarter-finals three years ago, Australia’s men suffering the same fate in the sport’s Rio 2016 debut.

Australia’s women won that first gold medal on offer and have been the headline act ever since, again poised to run deep when their tournament begins next week.

But since Tokyo, the men have won a world series title, broken a 34-year drought to win in Hong Kong and automatically qualify for the Olympics for the first time.

Manenti was women’s assistant coach in Rio, head coach of the women in Tokyo and has since found a new gear with the men’s side.

“We’re really proud of the girls and what they’ve done, but that’s not to say the boys don’t want a piece of it,” he said.

“We’ve worked hard over the last three years to have some special moments, do some things that haven’t been done before.

“But a medal here would be another thing.

“We want to write our own story, we don’t want to be in their shadow forever, but I’m pretty confident they’re going to be high on the podium.”

AAP